Author's note: Yes, this is late. It was both my fault and because of issues with document uploading.

The next week, I found myself stationed in front of an old rusty gate to a small cemetery near the edge of town, tears leaving my eyes and my face as hot as a magma ball.

My, it hurt to be alone. It felt like something had been ripped from my heart, leaving an aching burn in my chest.

It wasn't even my losing him, the boyfriend I'd had for the past few months until now, that bit so badly.

It was my, once again, being left behind to rot.

...His name was Harold. We'd met by happenstance within a community college on a bright day at the start of February. From our first words to each other, I immediately assumed he was a sweetheart. H-He just seemed the type! He had a bright smile, sparkling eyes, and an untold ambition that I could immediately hear in his voice.

We met up each weekday after that, usually in the same spot. Within a week, we were greeting each other with hugs. And within two weeks, something in that smile pulled my heart in by its waist and kissed it with an ethereal passion. I'd fallen, and I knew it.

Took seven months for me to find out he felt the same way. The memory of our first embrace with that knowledge… what once was probably the happiest memory in the book now was a sort of devastating humor to me.

Three months after that, he disappeared. He'd said he needed to be alone to think about something.

Oh, he thought it. He was quick to come over to my house in the dead of a winter's night, sit me down for a conversation, and tell me he didn't think he could have a meaningful relationship with me. Caught in a loop of shock, I agreed that he could do whatever made him happy. And, I mean, I still had that sentiment. Nothing worse than making someone unhappy in my book.

It's just… he heard my agreement and immediately walked out of the house, not another word to be said. Nothing of why… what part of my future clashed with his in such a devastating way… what was wrong with me, maybe…

I didn't see a trace of him again.

And now, in a desperate need to escape that wooden enclosure, I took a walk out here to the cemetery.

I was holding back my tears as best I could because I refused to be anything but strong. Even in the most isolated of places, I always felt like there was some sort of presence judging my worth. I suppose you could say… I was watching me everywhere I went.

So my mind was searching for literally any sort of distraction. After all, the toxic memories couldn't blow away like a newspaper on the ground if I was standing on them, right? I knew life was good, but… I needed a reminder. Literally anything of substance would do.

So I saw the gate. A black, metal gate. A rusty gate, so rough that parents scared their children with talk about tetanus so they wouldn't go near it.

With this gate's decrepit state in mind, I looked over it to the graves and wondered. How long ago had the most recent… er, addition to the cemetery come along? Who's to say they didn't quit bringing the dead here decades ago?

...Gates… Some people guarded, or "kept" them for a living. Like a housekeeper keeps things spiffy, were gatekeepers required to keep gates in shape?

If that was the case, whoever was in charge here was pretty shitty at it. If nothing else, it was a distraction, so I stood guard at that gate. If I had the right materials at all, I would have been hard at work ridding it of all the rust, but alas, I did not.

I didn't know what I was looking for. Evil villains in labcoats or long capes? Douchebags trying to dig up the graves?

Hey… these thoughts were invigorating! I felt a sudden sense of confidence and mentally prepared myself to fight someone epic as that. Yeah, imagine me, fighting off an evil mastermind with nothing but the brain in my head and the reflexes in my body. That'd be something else!

"What're you doing out here in the cold, kid?" a voice asked me.

So lost in my thoughts, I interpreted this as a threatening voice, so I was quick to spin around and look at the person.

Paprika?

"Er… keeping a gate?" I answered quietly. "I guess?"

He only looked more confused and didn't say anything for a good five seconds.

"...And why do you look like you've been crying?" he finally asked.

Shit, I let my guard down, didn't I?

"Er, a… a… breakup," I said.

"You can't be serious," Paprika replied. "That's awful. What happened, if you don't mind me asking?"

...No, no, my chest was getting tight again! Come on, me, be strong!

"I… don't know," I answered truthfully. "One night, he just disappeared, and a few nights later, he came by and told me we wouldn't work. Then just… left."

"Scum," Paprika growled to himself.

"...Hey, aren't you usually at work?" I asked, immediately hoping he wouldn't think I wanted to be left alone. I'd finished that "want to be alone" phase, and it was now quite the opposite.

"Nah," Paprika answered. "I guess there's a huge blizzard coming in, so we all decided to close the joint."

Blizzard. That meant I'd have to go home, didn't it?

"...So..." I said. "Am I doing it right? ...Gatekeeping?"

"Well… you've got idling down," said Paprika. "I'd personally bring some stuff to get the rust off of this thing… and when someone comes by, you're supposed to be all threatening and encourage them to take on your challenge, which… I guess you don't really have one, do you?"

"No," I sighed.

Paprika merely sighed in response. It took a few seconds for him to speak.

"Are you… serious about this?" he asked.

"What?" I asked. "About what?"

"Keepin' gates," he said. "Because if you are… I could give you a few pointers."

I could only stand and think.

"I'll let you think about it," said Paprika. "I'll warn you right now, though, it can get pretty boring. Honestly, I don't think I'd be doing it if my brothers weren't with me."

He took one glance at the clouds coming in behind me.

"Come on," he insisted. "We gotta get back to our homes."

"Yeah," I said with a sigh.

As it would turn out, the Trio lived just down the street from me, so most of the way back, we walked together.

I still remember what he told me before he went into his house.

"I'm proud of you for completing all the Challenge Trains and everything, but… it's been lonely. Don't be a stranger. Come visit sometimes, okay?"

From there, certain neurons were firing in my head, making connections… wondering if maybe, Paprika was the elder brother I'd never had.

That… gatekeeping…

My shock from the breakup sorta blocked some of my inhibitions out, so… maybe gatekeeping wasn't such a bad idea?